EastTec Eraser 2010 review

When you delete a file from your hard disk, or any other storage device, it’s not gone forever. Windows simply stops listing the file in Windows Explorer and releases that area of the disk for reuse. With the right software, deleted files can easily be recovered.

EastTec Eraser 2010 solves this problem by overwriting files until they are, largely speaking, beyond recovery. You can overwrite particular files and folders or – if you need to securely erase something that’s already been deleted in the normal way – an entire disk or partition. You can choose from a range of deletion methods, ranging from a single overwrite right up to the respected and essentially infallible Gutmann method, in which data is overwritten 35 times.

As well as these simple erase options, Eraser 2010 also comes with a built-in Privacy Guard module. You can configure this to overwrite things like the cache of your internet browser, records of files downloaded using peer-to-peer file-sharing programs and so on. You only need to configure it once, and thereafter it can be run on the fly to clean up all traces of your internet and computer use.

We tested the program on a removable drive formatted with the FAT32 file system. First we deleted specific files, then we erased the whole drive using the Gutmann method. Using various Linux file recovery programs we were unable to retrieve any of the deleted files. For most purposes, Eraser will erase your files beyond recovery. There’s no need to worry that amateur snoopers or identity thieves will be able to retrieve them.

Theoretically, files can be reconstructed even from drives that have been erased using this sort of software which is why the US Department of Defense doesn’t allow overwriting for the destruction of top secret information. That said, the capabilities you’d need for this kind of retrieval are far beyond all but the most sophisticated organisations – so if Mossad is on your tail, destroy the disk with a hammer and grinder. Otherwise, EastTec Eraser 2010 does the job nicely. Our only real reservation was the price. You can get free applications that do a lot of what EastTec Eraser will do, so £43 seems a lot to ask.